Storage containers such as refrigerators and heating cabinets have been used to store objects at a temperature different from the ambient temperature. With such a storage container, objects can be stored at a desired temperature. For example, refrigerators can store, as the objects, various food items while keeping them fresh for a long time. Also, heating cabinets can store, as the objects, food items while keeping them at a temperature suitable for when they are served (for example, 80° C.)
When such a storage container stops operating due to power failure or the like, the temperature in a storage chamber in which the objects are stored approaches the ambient temperature, that is, rises if the storage container is a refrigerator and falls if the storage container is a heating cabinet. To prevent this, PTLs 1 and 2 propose refrigerators including cold storage materials and configured such that, even if the operation is stopped due to power failure or the like, cold air is supplied to the storage chamber for a certain time so that the temperature in the storage chamber does not change.